It’s hard to believe but Halo Metrics has turned 20 years old this month. We could not have lasted this long without our partners in Retail. And as we celebrate here is a retrospective from Cheryl Gillott:

20 years ago (August 8/88), Bill Gillott started Se-Kure Controls (Canada) Inc. and imported one product line into Canada, “warehousing it" in a self-storage complex. From the basement of his home, salesman that he was, each day he would cold-call retailers and then, when he got an order, run to the storage unit to pick up the goods and hand deliver them. His first order was from The Bay downtown, as I recall the story. Funnily enough the first customer I ever met, almost 10 years later, was Bob Ellis (then LP Director at The Bay) and his advice was “your father has built a good thing here, don’t screw it up”. I took his words to heart. Listen to your customer, give them what they need when they need it, and stand behind your promises. Pretty simple stuff.

Back in those days, Bill’s premise for the business was a “plug and play” model. Products were basic, available in “any colour as long as it was black”, and the customer did their own set up and installation. Today’s retail landscape is much more complicated, we deal with many different channels within the retail industry, and our business has evolved from straight forward distribution of outside product lines, to solutions provider with a full range of loss prevention and merchandise display items, including some we manufacture. We have also grown from that home-based business to one with four offices/two warehouses across the country and a strong team focused on meeting the needs of the retailer.

With an eye toward the future we rebranded and changed our name to Halo Metrics Inc. two years ago and are poised to bring some exciting new technologies and concepts to the market.

As we reflect on the past and move toward the future we would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners in the retail industry for an exciting 20 years.

Thank you!

Cheryl Gillott
President
Halo Metrics Inc.